Time disappears in The End of Time, The Next Revolution in Our Understanding of the Universe by Julian Barbour (Weideneld & Nicolson, £20 in UK), an intriguing book that argues there is no time, only "nows" that in effect allow multiple universes to exist simultaneously. Confused? Then read this book, which by the way involved a mathematical collaboration with Prof Niall O'Murchadha of University College, Cork.

Initially, The Nothing That Is, a Natural History of Zero by Robert Kaplan (Penguin, £12.95 in UK) is a book about zero which initially might seem like much ado about nothing. In fact without the concept of the absence of a value, our counting systems and mathematics would be in deep trouble. Kaplan takes us through this little artifice's evolution and history.

Also for mention is Faster, the Acceleration of Just About Everything by James Gleick (Little Brown, 16.99 in UK). Are things moving faster or are we all just getting older? The latter is unavoidably true but Gleick, author of the best seller Chaos, argues that the former is also the case. He examines in detail our unceasing daily struggle to squeeze as much as possible into our daily routines.

Is your cranky personality nature or nurture, do the traits that define your personality spring from youthful experience or from your genes? In Living With Our Genes, Why they Matter More than You Think, Dean Hamer and Peter Copeland (Macmillan, £12.99 in UK) argue strongly that we can blame it all on our genes, from how much we eat or weigh to how often we choose to have sex.